Perish
by Vaniilasweetie
Summary: Bella just moved to Forks, ready to start her new school year. Little did she know she would be kidnapped, forced into a quest with a boy who wants nothing to do with her, and thrown into a new world that she never dreamed could have existed. Cullen's aren't vampires, but you'll have to read to find out what they are ;), please read
1. Chapter 1

"Bella! Bella, where are you?" Bella sighed, so much for sneaking out today. She had wanted to explore her new surroundings before her mother forced her to unpack yet another pile of boxes. They had moved to Seattle only a few days ago, but her mother was adamant that they be unpacked and settled in before Bella's new school year started. Her reasoning being that her junior year was very important. But then again her mother said that about every school year….

"Bella! If you don't come here right now, I swear I'll force you to unpack everything that's left in the garage!" Her mother threatened.

Bella quickly rushed downstairs, knowing that her mother would actually follow through on her threat.

When she came downstairs, she saw a girl standing next to her mother. The girl had a narrow, oval shaped face with prominent cheekbones, her eyes an exotic, emerald green framed by long, thick lashes.

"Bella I want you to meet Alice Cullen." Her mother said nudging Bella forward toward the girl.

Alice smiled widely, showing off her pearly white teeth. " Alice here was just suggesting that she could show you around town and your new school, isn't that great?" Bella's mother smiled, excited that Bella might already have a friend.

Alice nodded enthusiastically: " You're really going to love it here! I'm sure everyone will love you, except maybe for Edward and his friends. You should stay away from them, trust me they're bad news."

"Well, Bella doesn't need a guy to survive school anyway, do you?" her mother said when she heard Edward's name.

"Well I am 16 now, maybe I do want a boyfriend !" teased Bella

"You can sit with me and my friends during lunch if you want, and I can answer all of your questions." Alice continued still smiling.

" That would be nice of you, I don't know anyone in here yet. _Someone_ hasn't released me from unpacking duty yet." Bella replied, shooting her mother a smile.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you'll make friends in no time, besides you can already count me in as one" Alice said with a wink.

" That's so sweet Alice, I'll send Bella over tomorrow morning." Bella's mother gushed, leading Alice toward the door.

"Bella, I hate to do this but I need you to go to the store for me." Her mother trailed off, frowning.

Her mother had always been overprotective of Bella, even something as simple as letting her go to the store was difficult for her.

"I'll give you some money, just make sure you come straight home." her mother warned.

"I always do." Bella replied, rolling her eyes. Her mother gave Bella a hug and waited outside until she left.

Strolling around the shops in town Bella slowed seeing a quaint shop with ivy clinging to the outer walls. She went inside the little store, her curiosity piqued.

She looked around, the entire shop was filled with antiques ranging from furniture to jewellery. A small medallion caught her eye, she went closer to inspect it further.

The chain was rose-gold reaching to just past her neck with a round medallion hanging from it. Engraved in the medallion was the word '_oráiste_' in a golden orange, contrasting strongly with the rest of the piece.

Bella turned toward the shopkeeper: "Oráiste, what does that mean?"

The shopkeeper furrowed his brow: "Well it has different meanings, but the simplest is just the colour orange in Gaelic, for me it means another strike against the enemies of my forefathers."

"It's gorgeous,.." Bella whispered mesmerized by the medallion, not really listening to the shopkeeper's strange explanation. "How much is it?"

The shopkeeper hesitated: " I suppose I would give it to you for forty dollars."

Bella frowned: " I've only got thirty dollars on hand, would that be al right?"

The shopkeeper was just about to answer when the bell chimed behind them, a young man stormed inside the shop, slamming the door.

"Hand it over Elezear! I know you have the medallion!"

" Well I would, but I just sold it to this young lass here, for a grand total of thirty dollars." Elezear smirked, obviously trying to get a rise out of the boy.

It worked because the boy slowly turned himself towards Bella, his light, golden brown eyes flashing dangerously with an orange sheen.


	2. Chapter 2

Bella stared back, startled by the intense fury in his gaze. Looking up at him her eyes widened.

He was easily one of the most handsome boys she had ever seen in her life. He had a pair of the most strange looking eyes, from far it would probably just look like a dark brown, but with her standing so close she could see flecks of orange and red mixed into them.

At the moment his flawless face was tensed, his strong jaw flexed as his eyes burned into hers. Which seemed to be even brighter in contrast with his auburn locks and pale skin.

His deep voice shook her out of her staring, "If you know what's good for you you'll hand that over, Right Now!" He spit out.

This made Bella's anger flare up, she wasn't a pushover and she definitely wouldn't let this wannabe macho man order her around.

" I don't think so," Bella stepped closer, "and you might want to change your tone." Bella replied patronizingly.

The boy growled, he stepped closer again towering over her.

Suddenly Elezear stepped forward blocking Bella from the boy's view.

"You heard the girl, Edward." Elezear said with a harsh tone.

"Fine, but you and the others better watch it, you have a history of stealing and ruining precious things." Edward answered staring Elezear down.

He shot Bella one more glance, before leaving, slamming the door behind.

Bella turned towards Elezear, still a bit shaken by the sudden confrontation, but he obviously didn't want to talk about, ignoring her questioning gaze.

Instead she just handed over the thirty dollars and thanked him, getting ready to leave.

Just as she was about to, Elezear spoke up: " Watch out for that young man Edward, he's a lot more dangerous than you might think."

Bella nodded, not exactly sure how to answer the ominous warning.

She left the shop and went to do the shopping her mom had asked her to do in the first place, making sure she didn't run into Edward again.

"I'm back!" Bella called out to the top floor, where she heard her mother walking around.

"Just leave everything in the kitchen, I'll be right there." Her mother called back.

Bella went into the kitchen and started unpacking all the groceries.

" Did you find everything?" Her mother asked, startling Bella.

"Yes, look what I found," Bella said while pulling the medallion out of her pocket, " I found it in an old antique store , it immediately caught my eye.

Her mother took it from her, studying it with a strange look on her face.

"It's nice…," Her mother said thoughtfully, " definitely something you would pick out."

"I really liked it, there was someone else who wanted it as well." Bella said thinking about Edward again.

"Someone else?" Her mother asked her eyes wide, " Who? Do you know who it was?"

Bella looked at her mother strangely: "I don't think you know him, why?"

"Oh nothing, just forget I said anything." Her mother replied hastily, " Let's eat, and then you should get ready for bed. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

They ate together at the dining table and watched a movie, after that Bella retreated back into her room.

Bella was startled awake by the alarm on her cell phone. After a long summer she wasn't used to it's shrill sound.

Still she got up and got ready for school, making sure to eat something small before leaving.

She waited outside until she saw Alice, who had asked her if they could walk to school together on the first day.

"I really like your necklace," Alice said, fingering the medallion's chain, "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, just a small shop I saw when I was walking through town." Bella replied nonchalantly, not wanting to think about it again.

When they reached school, Alice led Bella to the administration office to get her time table. With a sweet smile and a bit of eye batting, she made sure they had almost every single class together.

In the mean time a few of Alice's friends had come to stand next to them. Bella studied them, they were all gorgeous, every single one of them with almost exactly the same piercing blue eyes.

"Aren't you going to introduce us Alice?" One of the girls asked snottily, looking Bella up and down.

" Of course, this is Bella. She just moved here with her mother." Alice answered, ignoring the girl's haughty tone.

They all said hello, looking at her curiously.

"Bella this is Rosalie, Jessica, Angela, Mike, and Emmett." She said, " I'll introduce you to Jasper later, he's always late." Alice continued rolling her eyes.

Bella was just about to ask who Jasper was when the school bell rang, Bella quickly followed Alice to her first class.

When everyone was seated, the teacher started to take attendance going in alphabetical order until he got to Edward's name.

"Edward Volturi, I'm glad to see you in my class, for the second time now." The teacher said, receiving a chuckle out of a few students.

Bella discreetly looked to left, out of the corner of her eye she saw the same boy from the antique store. Involuntarily Bella tried to make herself as small as possible and hid the medallion under her shirt.

As if Edward felt her doing just that, he suddenly turned around towards Bella. His eyes burning into the side of her head. Bella hoped that he would lose interest and stop staring at her, but no such luck.

He kept frowning at her, and suddenly the medallion started to heat up. Bella quickly took it out from under her shirt, shocked. But now Edward had seen it and Bella held her breath hoping he wouldn't make a scene like yesterday.

But instead he just turned back around and kept his eyes to the front of the class for the rest of the lesson.

When the bell rang again signalling the end of the lesson, Bella got up as fast as she could. Hoping to avoid Edward, but just when she was about to turn a corner to the next lesson she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

Edward was behind her, along with five other people all looking menacingly at her. They started to form a circle around her, all of them with the same dark brown, almost black eyes, with that same rusty orange circle around the iris.

Edward stepped forward: " If you give me that necklace of yours I promise that you won't get into trouble this year, that you'll never get in trouble." he amended.

Bella's adrenaline spiked, strangely she wasn't the least bit tempted to ask for a decent explanation for all the strange things that had happened surrounding the medallion.

Instead she just said: " Like I said last time, I like it and I'm not just going to give it you!"

"She likes it," Edward said to his friends, but still facing Bella, " It's not just some pretty piece of cheap jewellery, girl. It's powerful and belongs to me and my people. Why don't I just give you the double of what you payed, so you can go crazy at forever 21 or something. Doesn't that seem like a good deal sweetheart?"

" Listen Edward," she said while she pushed her finger against his firm chest, "if you wanted it you should have gotten to it first. But it's mine now and you'll just have to learn to live with it."

Edward definitely didn't appreciate that little nudge, and his eyes began to glow.

"Calm down Edward, you're not going to hit a woman are you? That's not what a real gentleman does." said a boy who suddenly stepped in between them.

Don't interfere Jasper!" growled Edward who looked normal again, but still he walked away from the two with his little posse trailing after him like a pack of stray dogs.

Jasper turned towards Bella , but she wasn't listening to him, her heart still racing and butterflies in her stomach.

"Are you okay?" The boy's words finally penetrated.

Sure, I'm not going to let that guy push me around! I mean who does he think who he is!" Bella said angrily.

Yeah, he definitely thinks very highly of himself, but anyway I'm Jasper," he said, " and I'm guessing you must be Bella?"

"Yes, you're one of her friends Alice, right?" said Bella, looking him up and down.

He, too was exceptionally beautiful, his innocent looking,round face was framed by a head of curly blond locks, that reached till just past his ears. Along with a pair of sea-green eyes and full pink lips.

" Yep, me and Alice-" He was interrupted by a someone rushing towards them, shouting Bella's name.

**Author's note: Thank you all so much for reading my story, I'm sorry that nothing really exciting has happened yet but I need a bit of build up first :). Forgive any grammar and/or spelling mistakes and please review!**

**Thanks a lot :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"Here you are, I couldn't find you." panted Alice

"Yeah, there was a guy in class that was bothering me but luckily Jasper came before it could get any worse." Bella answered.

Alice's emerald eyes widened: "A guy? It wasn't Edward was it? I warned you to stay away from him."

Bella was confused by how worried Alice was looking.

"He wanted to take my necklace," Bella said holding up the piece, " I said he couldn't have it but he just wouldn't take no for an answer. I'm glad that Jasper came, I don't think Edward would have done anything but I definitely wasn't going to stick around and find out. Anyway I'm going to try and fix all of this later so you don't have to worry about it any more."

Alice just frowned and then looked at her watch " We're about 15 minutes late for the next lesson, but if we say you just got lost an we tried to find you I'm sure we won't get in any trouble."

Jasper laughed and said: " Yeah and if Alice decides to turn on the charm, trust me nobody can say no to her."

They had started walking towards their next class, which they luckily all had together.

"How long have you guys known each other?" Bella asked, noticing how close Alice and Jasper were walking.

Alice beamed: " Oh, we've known each other for ages, my mother even saved Jasper's father's life." Alice bragged.

"Something we've never really stopped paying for." Jasper said smiling, though it didn't really reach his eyes.

"Wow I guess that's pretty big, so I take it that your family's are very close?" Bella asked curiously.

Alice giggled: "Yeah, I mean we practically live together!"

Jasper just nodded, not showing nearly as much enthusiasm as Alice.

Before Bella could ask another question she noticed that they had reached their next lesson.

At lunch time they all sat at a table somewhere in the middle of the cafeteria. Alice was sitting across from Bella and next to her were Lauren and Jessica. Jasper was sitting on her right side and another boy named Tyler on her left.

"So anything worth talking about today?" Jessica asked teasingly, knowing that there was almost never something interesting. One of the downsides of living in such a small town.

Alice's friend Abbey immediately answered and said: " Well, why don't we interrogate the new girl here." She obviously tried to make it sound friendly but it had an undertone of irritation. It was pretty clear that she didn't want Bella anywhere near her.

Still Bella replied: "Ask a way!"

"Well, where did you come from?" Lauren asked.

"Well we all lived in Jacksonville, but since it's just me and my mom now we decided to move to a small town. A fresh start you know?" Bella answered.

This time it was Angela who asked: " Why do you only live with your mother?"

Bella tensed," My dad kind of walked out on us, it's not really something I like to talk about." Bella finally told them after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Angela said, looking guilty.

"Really it's no big deal," Bella replied reassuringly, " It happened a few months ago, you know what they say, time heals all wounds."

Alice and the others kept asking questions about Bella, and there were no other incidences involving Edward.

When Bella got home, she noticed a note on the kitchen counter that said that her mother would be home a bit later, and that there was dinner in the fridge.

Bella ate her dinner and went upstairs to start on her homework.

"Bella, I'm home!" her mother called out after she had closed the door. It was already dark outside. Bella came downstairs and joined her mom in the kitchen.

"So, how did the first day go?" her mom asked

"It was okay, Alice introduced me to all of her friends, and I've got practically all of my classes with them. Bella said, knowing that a simple 'ok' wouldn't suffice.

"That's good, I've gotten a few job offers this week and today I've gone to a few of the interviews. I've got a good feeling about a few of them." her mom said.

Bella was relieved, she was worried about how her mom was going to handle staying in the empty house all day. But if she got a job she might be able to stop thinking about dad and start living her life again.

Remembering that she had wanted to ask Elezear why Edward wanted the medallion so badly she asked: "Mom would it be ok if I go to the antique store tomorrow? I want to ask for a bit more information about my necklace.

"Well, al right sweetie, but why? Is there something wrong with it?" her mother asked.

Bella hesitated for a second wondering if she should tell her mom the whole story, but instead decided against it. Not wanting to worry her mom with her problems.

"There was a guy at school that kept saying that it was his, I just want to make sure it wasn't stolen or anything." she said, sugar coating the experience a bit.

The next day at school passed pretty quickly, Edward had stared at her a few times during the day but thankfully he hadn't approached her again. Though it probably had more to do with the fact that both Alice and Jasper made sure she was never alone, than that he might have finally lost interest.

The bell chimed behind her again when she entered Elezear's store.

"Already back so soon, do you want to buy something else?" Elezear asked laughing, his eyes shining brightly.

"No, actually I've got a question about the medallion" said Bella.

"Well go ahead, I don't bite you know!" Elezear replied, winking.

"Well Edward, the boy that was here last time came up to me at school yesterday and said that the necklace was his family's or something? I just wanted to make sure the necklace wasn't stolen.

Not really knowing what say, Elezear shrugged and took a book from the shelf behind him.

"This is a book where I've written down all the things I've sold and bought over the years," said Elezear, " I'll try to find who I bought the medallion from."

Bella read with him looking over his shoulder, suddenly she saw it.

"There! Medallion engraved with '_Oráiste_' sold by Masen Owens. Owens… I think that's Edward's last name!"

"True," Elezear answered, " but still I bought it from him fair and square, really Edward doesn't have a claim on it."

Bella looked down thoughtfully: " Still he might not know that it was sold, maybe this Masen guy didn't have any right to sell it?"

Elezear chuckled darkly: " Trust me lass, Edward definitely knew that _Masen _sold it."

Bella was starting to get tired of all the suggestive answers she was getting, but nothing really concrete. Still she had made up her mind, she was going to return the medallion to Edward. She didn't really have any emotional attachment to it, but he obviously did.

She had just left the store when she ran into to something hard.

"Watch where you're going!" an angry voice yelled at her.

Bella looked up and saw that it was Edward, and by the expression on his face it was pretty clear that he had recognized her too.

"What have you come to rub it in some more?" he asked venomously.

"No, I've - I actually decided to return it to you." Bella answered, vowing that she wouldn't cower under his gaze.

Edward arched his brow, " Really? Pray tell what made you change your mind?" he said.

"I just decided that if you wanted it this bad you must have a reason for it." Bella replied trying not let him rile her up.

His expression softened: " I-Thank you Bella, I can't tell you how much that thing means to me."

Bella sighed, she looked up, noticing that the were standing very close to each other.

Edward noticed it too but instead of taking a step back like Bella expected, he stepped forward. Raising his hand as if to touch her.

Bella shuddered, realizing with a shock that she wanted him to and much more than just that. His proximity shot pleasant tingles down her spine and made her heart skip a few beats.

Suddenly Edward shook his head, and stepped back.

"Thanks again Bella." he said softly, and then walked away. Leaving Bella standing there with her mouth wide staring after him.

**AN: Thanks so much for reading everyone, Please tell me if I made any mistakes, but only constructive criticism please. Make sure to add this story to you favourites and REVIEW for a TEASER of next week's chapter. You know you want to ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Stock-still she was still staring at where Edward had stood, after a few moments she was finally able to shake herself out of her stupor and realized she still had the medallion in her hand. Edward had probably thought she didn't have it with her since the chain wasn't around her neck any more.

Bella decided that she would just go home and give it to him tomorrow at school, at least if those friends of his weren't around.

But on her way home she noticed Edward again, he had just ducked into an alley next to an apartment building that had obviously seen better days.

Bella thought to herself that she might as well give the medallion back now, though she was a bit reluctant to follow him into the dark and narrow alleyway.

Still Bella couldn't suppress her curiosity and followed him in, It was a lot colder and smelled like something had died , which was probably the case.

She saw Edward at the end of the passageway which ended in a dead end. He was rubbing his hands together shaking, he hadn't noticed that Bella had followed him. He started to blow in his hands, but Bella saw that it wasn't just a puff of air but small orange flames that had just escaped his mouth.

Bella shook her head, speechless. She couldn't really have just seen...that.

She kept staring at Edward hoping that he would do something, anything to prove that she was wrong.

"This can't be happening." Bella said to herself in no more than a whisper.

But Edward had turned around, finally noticing Bella. His eyes widened as the sudden realization dawned on him.

"Shit, shit, shit, what did you see?" cursed Edward.

"Uh," Bella thought, " nothing, I mean you couldn't have been…."

Edward glared at her: " Been what Bella, say it!"

"You- you breathed fire out!" Bella said, stuttering slightly. She was defininely afraid now.

"Shit!" Edward started pacing up and down in the alley.

"I'm sorry," Bella offered apologetically , " It wasn't my intention to catch you doing that." she finished lamely.

"Really? What were you even doing in the first place? Spying on me?" Edward said his voice getting louder and louder.

"I wasn't spying" Bella called out indignantly, but before she could finish her sentence Edward had grabbed Bella by her upper arm and pulled her close to him so that their hips were pressed together.

"You're not going to tell anyone about this, understand?" Edward hissed into her ear, looking around uneasily.

"I," she couldn't form words with Edward standing so close to her, "I-I won't say anything, I promise.

Bella understood that this was a pretty huge secret that he didn't want to get out, she knew that he was trying to intimidate her, to scare her into submission. But it was all out of fear, even Bella knew that if this got out Edward would be in trouble. He would probably become a test subject for scientists or be forced into some freak-show.

Edward let her go, but didn't move a way, "Why were you following me in the first place?"

"I told you that I would give the medallion back to you," she said taking it out of her pocket.

Edward started grinning, in contradiction to his menacing form from earlier.

"Thank you so much Bella," He said, taking the necklace from her. Then he reached into his pocket and fished out a couple of dollars. He handed them to her.

"Here take it." seeing Bella's puzzled look he clarified, " For the necklace I heard Elezear say it was thirty dollars, so here.

"Oh, thanks I guess," Bella replied, " I better start getting home now, my mom gets really worried when I'm gone too long."

Edward just nodded, they stood there for another few seconds until Bella finally turned around.

Just as she was about to leave Edward asked, " I'll see you tomorrow at school?"

Bella was surprised by his question, did it mean he wanted her to be there?

When she got home, she gently closed the door and leaned against it, thinking about all the things that had happened.

"Mom I'm home!" Bella called out after a few moment, hoping that her mother wouldn't ask to many questions.

"So, what was wrong with the necklace? It wasn't stolen was it?" Her mother questioned.

"Oh no, but I did return it. I guess it just didn't feel right." Bella replied, leaving out the part where she had entered a dark alleyway with a boy she barely knew and had threatened her more than a few times.

After dinner and her homework, Bella decided to go to bed. She felt drained after the day she'd had. Still she couldn't fall asleep, she kept thinking about what she'd seen. It was impossible, maybe it had all been a joke. But deep down Bella knew it wasn't, she'd looked into his eyes. He was terrified that she had seen him. There was no way he could have faked it. But still Bella hoped he had, at last she fell asleep dreaming of orange flames, smoke and Edward.

The next morning Bella was waiting for Alice to pick her up, Alice had just gotten her license but her parents would only allow her to drive short distances. Luckily the school was only a few miles from where they lived.

But when she saw Alice's car pull up she noticed that it was Jasper who was driving. She got into the back-seat and greeted them.

Alice immediately started talking, extremely chipper, " The first time I've seen Jasper get up on time in what like six months?" Alice laughed.

"I was so surprised when he offered to bring us, I mean this guy thinks it's a chore to put on all of his clothes in the morning."

Jasper smiled good-naturedly " You know I'm not a morning person Alice, you'd think you would know that after thirteen years."

Alice just laughed, waving him off, for the rest of the car ride she kept talking about a bunch of random things. Like what was on t.v. last night, had Bella seen the latest pretty little liars episode?

Bella picked an empty table in the classroom, close to the door on the last door, this was one of her few classes that she didn't have with Alice, Jasper or one of their friends. She piled her books on her desk ready for when the class would begin.

Then she saw Edward walk into the class, Bella expected that he would ignore her like he had before but instead he walked toward her desk sitting in the seat next to her.

"I sat there Edward" said a girl whose name Bella didn't know, but she too had a pair of bright blue-green eyes.

"Well now I'm here, besides I should pay more attention to," Edward looked at his book to see which subject they had, " History" He smirked.

Bella giggled a bit, she was glad that Edward had decided to sit next to her. It was strange that she wasn't afraid of him but he just made her feel happy and protected. Which was weird because the only trouble she had had here so far was caused by him.

Suddenly she saw a small piece of paper on her desk, she unfolded it and saw that Edward had written her a note.

_Thanks again for giving me the medallion - R_

_No problem, why are you sitting next to me? -_ Bella wrote back

_What? Do you want me to leave? I thought that we might get to know each other better? -R_

_Really? Why on earth would I want to get to know you better :p - _Bella smiled at him .

_Funny sweetheart ;), I was wondering if you would want to sit next to me at lunch today? - _Edward wrote, his eyes imploring.

_Oh, okay, I'll just tell Alice later? - E_

_Thanks Bella , I want to ask you something later… -R_

The bell rang and she quickly refolded the paper and slipped it into her pocket. With one last look at Edward she quickly left for her next class, knowing that Jasper and Alice were going to pick her up at the door.

During the first break Alice asked " So how did your first few classes go today?"

"Oh, they were fine I guess, I gave Edward back the medallion yesterday and I guess you could say we're kind of friends now."

"Friends with Edward? Sorry, Bella but I don't think that's possible." Jasper said.

Bella frowned, she hadn't expected Jasper to be so judgemental, " Why wouldn't I be able to be friends with him? "

Alice said: " Bella, Edward really isn't a person you want to be friends with, just trust us on this."

"Did you just say that you had given him the medallion?" Jasper asked before Alice could even finish her sentence.

"Yeah, he seemed to really want it, he paid me the money back so it wasn't really that big of a deal. Besides it really did belong to his family, the storekeeper told me." Bella replied.

"Why don't we just get to class? We don't want to be late again do we?" Alice said trying to change the subject.

Alice and Jasper started walking in front of her, whispering. She managed to catch a few bits and pieces of their conversation.

"Everything is messed up now Jasper! What do we do now?" Bella heard Alice say.

"I really like her Alice, but I don't even know if she can do it without the medallion. We'll have to ask Elezear later." Jasper told her.

Confused by the entire conversation, Bella quickly hurried into the classroom. Why was this medallion so important for everybody? How did Jasper en Alice know about Elezear anyway? She didn't think that she'd ever mentioned him.

**AN: Thank you all so much for reading everyone, please forgive any mistakes. Please don't forget to review :) **


	5. Chapter 5

At lunch Bella came in to the cafeteria by herself. She looked around for a second, but she didn't see Edward anywhere. She waited a bit longer but after that she went to sit next to Jasper and Alice. Maybe it was better this way.

"Good choice" Alice said relieved.

Jasper was looking at Bella strangely almost as if he was in a dreamlike state, he shook his head and said " I'm happy that you chose to sit with me-uhm I mean us, trust me it's in your best interest."

Bella asked herself again why they kept insulting Edward, from what she had seen they didn't really have much contact with each other. After ten minutes she noticed that Edward had come in. He was looking around searchingly, he finally saw her and started to look angry when he noticed who she was sitting next to. He pushed someone out of the way and went back into the hall.

"I'm quickly going to get something out of my locker." Bella said to the group, who hadn't noticed Edward.

Bella practically sprinted to chase after Edward " Edward wait!" she yelled out.

Edward stopped walking and turned around " Why should I? So you can choose _them _again?"

There was about a half a foot between them. " Alice and Jasper were really insistent, you should have seen their faces. What do they have against you anyway?"

Edward came a bit closer " It's a long story, but next time if you promise me something I suggest you follow through." He finished his voice getting deeper.

But Bella noticed the corners of his mouth tugging up and knew he wasn't really angry any more.

"Who said I was going to promise you something again?" Bella asked teasingly.

Edward smiled and came even closer. Luckily all the people were in the cafeteria or outside, who knows what they would have thought if they saw her and Edward together.

"You can make it up to me." Edward said softly.

Still feeling playful Bella asked: " Now how would I do that?"

"Well you could come over to my house, we could get to know each other better?" Edward said insecure rubbing the skin behind his neck.

"Oh! Well I should ask my mother first, but I'd really want to." Bella said surprised and a little shy.

"Do you promise?" Edward asked arching his brow.

"Promise." Bella said her smile getting wider.

The rest of the lunch break she sat back with Alice and her friends, but still with a large grin left over on her face. ************************************************** ************************************

_I'm going to be late tonight - Mom_

Bella grabbed the envelope from the fridge and looked inside. Inside there were a couple of dollar bills for if she wanted to get some pizza, but she just decided to wait until her mother got home.

About an hour later her mother had come home, Bella came downstairs and sat down on the bottom step.

"Mom would it be ok if I went to a friends house tomorrow? It's a Friday so it won't interfere with my school work." Bella asked.

"Sure honey, because you asked so nicely but make sure you're home before nine o'clock." Her mom answered, Bella was surprised but then realized her mom probably thought that she was going to Alice's or something and she wasn't about to tell her otherwise.

"Thank you so much!" Bella said excited and gave her mom a hug.

Bella wanted to send Edward a text to say she was allowed to go,till she remembered that she didn't even have his number. She decided that she would just have to ask him tomorrow.

After a nice night with her mom Bella went to bed feeling really happy. She slept peacefully that night without having any nightmares.

Bella woke up without the help of her alarm clock. She took a quick shower and put on some clean clothes. She didn't think about how she spent a bit longer on her hair and make-up.

"Good morning" Bella's mother said when Bella entered the kitchen.

"Hi mom, good morning, so do you have anything planned for today?" Bella asked while getting her breakfast ready.

"Well actually I got the job I interviewed for and today is my first day."

"I'm happy for you mom, good luck!" Bella said.

Her mother looked at her watch and said: "I better get a move on and so should you if you want to be at school on time."

The school day went by agonizingly slow, all she could think about was Edward and that seemingly made the clock go even slower.

She quickly said to the others that she forgot something in class but instead she went to the parking lot where Edward was waiting for her. She had planned this so that she could avoid a scene between Jasper and Edward.

When she told that she could come with him after school he immediately started smiling and even blushing slightly. Completely contradictory to the bad boy image he projected to everyone else.

Edward walked to her after school and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Calm down Edward." Bella said laughing at his playful behaviour. The went to his car, it was actually exactly how she had pictured it. It was a jet-black 1969 SS camaro, it's coat shining in the sunlight. It was obvious that Edward took good care of it.

Edward opened the door for her and then stepped into the the drivers side. The car ride took about twenty minutes, they talked a bit about school and other things. She loved how the conversation just flowed when she was talking to him she never had to force anything.

"Well this is it." Edward said when he opened his front door. It was a small house, it had probably been quite cosy before but know it looked deserted, cold and unlived in. Bella felt sorry that Edward had to live like this and she wondered where his parents were.

"Aren't your parents home?" she asked.

"My parents aren't really around, I'm alone most of the time." Edward said gesturing for her to go inside.

"So what do you do the whole time, don't you have any brothers or sisters?" Bella asked.

"I used to have a sister but she died three years ago." Edward said looking away.

"I'm so sorry Edward! I didn't know…" Bella faltered.

"It's ok, it happened a long time ago. But to pass the time I usually just go jogging so I can think or I go out with friends. You don't have to worry about it, you know. I have a dog." Edward finished with a smile and whistled.

A husky came running and jumped on Edward. Bella knelt down and started petting the dog.

"He doesn't bite does he?" She asked.

"She, and no I taught her well. I've had her since I was a little boy." Edward answered.

He walked through the kitchen to the living room, after two minutes he called that she could come to. Bella stepped up and went to the living room. It looked like he had tried to clean the place up in the two minutes he was gone. Bella still saw a few newspapers sticking out from under the sofa.

The husky kept close to Bella, "What's her name?" Bella asked sitting down next to Edward. The husky lied down on both their feet.

"Cerian it means loved one." Edward answered, "she helped me through a lot of the changes that I went through a couple of years ago." The dog's ears perked up when it heard it's name.

"I love that name." Bella answered smiling fondly at Edward.

"Can I ask you something?" Bella asked.

"Sure, knock yourself down." said Edward.

"I asked Elezear if the medallion was stolen and-" Edward interrupted her.

"That's not really a question is it?"

"I wasn't ready yet." said Bella nudging him with her shoulder making his eyes light up again.

"I was going to ask you who Masen was, the person who sold it in the first place." Bella finished.

Edward's happy smile changed without warning his facial expression now emotionless.

"That's kind of a touchy subject with me, Masen is, I mean was someone very important to me." Edward said sadly.

"Oh," Bella finished lamely reaching her hand out to touch his shoulder, she expected him to pull back, but instead he just stayed seated and let her comfort him. Bella went a little closer so that their shoulders touched.

"I'm sorry Edward, I won't ask about it again." said Bella.

Edward turned around, they were sitting extremely close to each other now, but he didn't do anything, he just looked into her eyes. They were glowing a rusty orange colour again and Bella couldn't bring herself to look away.

"Edward! Is anyone in here?" A loud male voice thundered across the small house.


	6. Chapter 6

Edward pulled himself away from Bella, sighing he got up and motioned that she should too.

"We're in the living room Dad." Edward called out.

Heavy footsteps were heading towards them, a man about forty years old entered the room. He was tall and broad-shouldered, radiating power and commanding respect.

His eyes narrowed and focused on Bella: "Is this her?" he asked.

"Dad please, not yet!" Edward answered, his eyes pleading.

Bella was extremely uncomfortable, she really wanted to leave, but was to afraid to say anything. Edward's dad was very intimidating.

His father's expression softened, he turned himself toward Bella again.

"I apologize in advance for doing this, young one. Trust me when I say I wish it could be different." Edward's dad finished.

The last thing she saw was Edward standing a few feet away from her before her vision faded into black.

"Do you think she's awake?" Bella thought she heard Edward, but his voice sounded very strange. She felt dizzy and disoriented.

She tried to sit up and when she opened her eyes she was surrounded by green. She look around some more, she was in a circular room that was painted a warm,dark brown in combination with forest green. There figures painted on the walls, pictures of dragons, skies, and fire. From her vantage point they seemed to be telling a story.

"Whe-where am I?" Bella asked, feeling utterly confused.

" In Neamh, it means heaven." Edward answered setteling himself beside her.

"Why am I here Edward?" Bella demanded.

Edward's father answered: " That's my fault, Edward told me that you saw him in the alley that day. He seems to thing that you can be trusted but I'm afraid I can't take that chance."

"But I still don't understand why I am _here_?" Bella pressed.

Edward's dad sighed: "Let me tell you a story Bella. You see a long time ago there were people who could transform themselves into remarkable creatures. They were what you people now who call dragons.

In the beginning we all lived peacefully together, there was no clear hierarchy and no conflicts or wars. But like you've seen in your own history, it couldn't last.

There was one man who wanted to rule over our clan, forcing his beliefs onto us. Some agreed with him but others like my forefathers did not. They separated themselves and formed a clan of their own calling themselves the Oráiste Suilean. The other clan called themselves the Liath Suilean.

The clans left each other in peace for a while but eventually a war broke out between the two clans. The Oráiste wanted the Liath to see them as a real community and Liath wanted our ground and our power.

The war was extremely brutal and carried on for many years. Then not too long ago a sorceress cast a spell on us keeping our race from extinction. She wanted the war to end so she cursed us, from then on we couldn't change into our dragon forms any more, and so we couldn't do as much damage as before.

And until one clan decides to forfeit and give up their side of the throne we will never be able to change or _arthu_ again."

Bella tried to process all of this, could any of it be true? She did see Edward breathing fire that day, but it could have been a trick of light, an illusion, anything. But Bella found herself believing them, as crazy as it sounded.

"So what are you going to do? Just keep me captive here?" Bella asked, remembering why she was hearing about all of this in the first place.

Edward answered this time: " No, we could just do a basic memory spell so you'll forget any of this ever happened. But there is still one more thing that we haven't told you."

"You see there was prophecy foretold by one of the most gifted seers in our time. There will be a medallion who will be invisible to all mortals except for the ones of pure _anam_ or roughly translated soul. Only they will be able to go through the portal and lift the curse. Giving victory to the clan of his or her choosing." Edward finished.

"So that locket…" Bella asked as realization dawned on he, " Was that the one you're talking about?"

Edward nodded, " That's why I wanted it back so badly Bella."

"Wait, wait wait!" Bella got angry, " Is that why you invited me over? Because i could see it? Was it all just a ruse to use me to win or whatever!"

Edward sprang up and grabbed her shoulders: "NO! I promise Bella, I was shocked that you could see it and it got me interested in you but that wasn't the reason that I invited you over. Please believe me!"

Bella felt torn, should she trust him again? Her mother had always told her that when she thought someone had wronged her that she should look at the situation from the other person's shoes.

Edward's father seemed to rule their house with an iron fist and he probably wouldn't want anger him. He had also only just met her and didn't know her nearly well enough to tell her all of his secrets that have been hidden from humans like her for most likely centuries. She calmed herself down a bit.

"Ok Edward, I guess I understand. Wait, Alice and Jasper are they?"

"Yes but they're from the other clan, Bella. You should stay far far away from them." Edward interrupted her.

This made Bella's anger flare up again: " Why should I stay away from them, Edward. They didn't lie to me!"

"Really Bella? They knew about the prophecy too! What do you think is worse? At least I told you about all of this! I could have just wiped your mind and just taken you to the portal without your knowledge! Jasper, Alice and the rest of their clan were never going to tell you about anything! They mislead you and lured you in so that they could use you to open the portal.

They've tested the medallion out with everyone in this town and every time someone new moves here they do exactly the same." Edward came closer and grasped her waist.

Bella looked down, Edward was right, they had lied to her as well. Probably even more so than Edward, remembering when she had overheard their cryptic conversation.

Edward's eyes bored into her own: "So Bella what do you think? Do you want to help our clan? Help me?"

**AU: I hope you all like this chapter, I had a pretty difficult time writing it and I'm not sure if I like it yet. Thank you all so much for all of your reviews and favourites, you don't know how much they mean to me :) Review if you want a teaser for the next chapter because I'm not to sure when I'll be able to post again.**


	7. Chapter 7

"I don't know yet, maybe if I knew a bit more about this portal that you're talking about and give me some time to decide on what to do." Bella answered, "It sounds pretty serious."

"I would if I knew myself, but we'll have to search for a book that tells us a bit more about the ritual needed to win back our full power." said Edward while he looked deep into Bella's eyes.

"What kind of book?" Bella said sceptically.

This time Edward's father answered: " A spell book, but we need to uncover the spell that the sorceress used, that's where the ritual is probably written."

"Oh," Bella said quietly not really understanding any of it, she looked back to Edward who had helped her get up, "It means a lot to you?"

"Even more than you think, I was born this way but I still miss the power that we had before and I want to win the damn war, I don't want to fear for my life whenever I walk through the neighbourhood of an upper Liath Suilean. Even more than that someone in my family gave their life for peace, all for nothing in the end." said Edward.

Edward started to rub at his eyes, " It's time that I get these contacts out, I've been wearing them for way too long. Would you guys wait for me?"

"Of course, I need to get mine out too, I'd almost forgot about them." Edward's father answered.

"What contacts?" Bella asked curiously looking between the two of them.

"These make our pupils round so that we don't stand out." said Edward who turned himself to Bella. His eyes were as orange as the leaves during the fall or the colour of rust. His pupils were oval like a snake's.

"Oh," said Bella who stepped back a bit, " fascinating…"

"You don't have to be afraid, you know. We're still the same only our eyes are different." Edward laughed seeing Bella's gob smacked expression.

"Actually I think they're kind of cool." said Bella teasingly.

Edward took her hand and they walked further through the forest surrounding the building where she had woken up in.

After about an hour and a half Edward's father said: " Let's take a small break and eat something."

Bella didn't notice that they had walked hand in hand the whole time until Edward released her hand. He smiled at her and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. A bit disappointed Bella sat herself down. Why was she disappointed anyway? What had she expected instead a passionate kiss that would send shivers down her spine? She shook her head and said: "I'm starving, what did you guys bring?"

"Nothing," said Edward's father, " We still have to catch it, you should just stay here we'll back in a moment."

They left her there while she stared after them in complete shock. Did they really just say _catch it? _After ten minutes or so they were back. Bella didn't recognize what they were holding. It looked like some kind of small cow except it was red and had short and sharp, yellowish horns.

"Don't worry, it's edible." said Edward's father with a smile when he saw her scared face. After that little 'snack' they walked further, but after a while she started to feel suckered out. She didn't know what time it was but she was sure she had missed her curfew and knew her mother was probably worried.

"We aren't too far from an inn, we'll spend the night there and continue tomorrow by horse." said Edward.

"Edward I can't stay the night here! My mom will be so worried!" Bella said.

"Don't worry, time works different around here. An hour over here is just about a second in the human world." Edward answered.

"Oh," Bella said lamely, she decided to just push it out of her head and try to go with the flow, " Is everything here so medieval?"

Edward thought for a moment: " Yes, but I don't really think about it that way, this is my home."

"Don't you miss your car when you're here?" Bella said with a smile remembering how well cared for his camaro was.

"No, I mostly come here during the school vacations, so I don't really have enough time to miss it." Edward answered seriously.

"Look there it is already." said Edward's father who had taken to walk in front of them so they had a bit of privacy.

It was toasty warm inside the inn, there was a fire burning in the hearth and dinner was just being served.

"Why don't you sit down, then you can eat with us, it's fresh?" said the innkeeper, who was a plump, middle aged woman with a friendly smile on her face.

But the woman did look at Bella a bit strangely making her feel uncomfortable until Edward noticed and went to stand in between them, shielding her from the innkeeper's view.

Edward and Bella went to sit at a table in the far left corner of the room. After a short time they noticed that more and more people kept staring at Bella. Apparently it had gone round that Bella wasn't normal. She felt as if she was being examined under a microscope. Some people kept staring at her constantly while others tried to be inconspicuous and gape at her when they thought she wasn't looking.

Edward's father came to them and said, "I'm going to rent the rooms, I want both of you to just wait here."

Bella and Edward remained seated, Edward looked around and said: " I'm sorry that everybody is gaping at you like that, it's just we don't see 'normal' people like you around here a lot."

"Aww thanks Edward, you really know how to sweet talk a girl." said Bella playfully.

Edward's father came up to them and said: " There were only two rooms left, so who's going-"

Edward's father couldn't even finish his sentence before Edward said: I'll sleep with Bella, someone needs to protect her. Most of the patrons here are probably harmless but we shouldn't take that risk."

Edward's father thought it over, he obviously wasn't sure about it but he still said warningly: " Al right, but please no funny business."

Bella's eyes widened and she was about to tell him that she wasn't that kind of girl but Edward and his father were already walking up the stairs.

"You coming?" Edward asked, holding up the room key.

Bella dragged herself up the steep steps, when they reached their room Edward opened the door for her and Bella let herself fall onto the bed.

"Finally something soft to lay down on!" Bella said sitting up slightly and leaning on her elbows.

Edward smiled and answered: " Hand me some of those pillows, I'm sure the floor will be just as comfortable."

Bella finally looked around and noticed that there was only one bed, she felt guilty. She couldn't do that to Edward and she told him so.

"You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor, you've had just a tasking day as I did maybe even more so, besides the floor could be dirty…." she trailed off.

Bella saw that Edward wasn't sure how to respond.

" We could always put the pillows in between us if you find me so disgusting." Bella finished trying to reduce the tension in the room.

Edward laughed and walked over to the other side of the bed and said: " Trust me you don't disgust me, and that might just be the problem."

"Funny, but I don't know what you think of me but that isn't going to be happening." Bella said with a wink.

Edward lied down next to her on the bed and looked into Bella's eyes.

"What a day, huh?" Bella sighed.

"Especially for you, I know that spell that we cast on you is harsh on humans sometimes." Edward answered.

"Well I am very tired, but I'm not hurt anywhere." said Bella.

"I'm glad, just try to go to sleep now." Edward whispered softly.

Bella closed her eyes and fell a sleep.

"Good morning" said Edward who was sitting on the window sill across the room.

"Good morning." she answered, "Why are you sitting over there?"

"Our kind tends to be very sensitive to the sun's rays so we can sense it even through these thick curtains." Edward explained, " I don't think I've ever been able to sleep out."

"Why don't you use the bathroom first and I'll try to discover some more information about the book and the portal." Edward suggested.

Suddenly they heard a loud banging noise on the door of the room next door, the room that Edward's father occupied.

**AN: Thanks all so much for reading! I haven't been able to fully proofread this chapter so I hope that you'll forgive any mistakes I just really wanted to get this chapter up before the school starts again. Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Edward stood stock still and just listened.

"Edward! I know you took Bella! Come out right now!" said a voice that sounded a lot like Jasper's.

It was one of those moments that if looks could kill, everyone in the room would just fall dead.

He stomped towards the door and pulled so hard that Bella was afraid he would pull it out of it's hinges. He turned quickly and growled out a " Stay there!" and then slammed the door back shut.

Bella pressed her ear against the door and tried to hear what they were saying.

"What are you doing here Jasper, honestly you're the last person I want to see when I wake up in the morning." Bella could just picture Edward's arrogant smirk when he said it.

"Cut the shit Edward, We know that you took Bella and we want her back!" Jasper answered angrily.

This made Bella's blood boil and instead of listening to Edward and staying put, she stepped outside of the room.

"Excuse me Jasper, but I'm not something that you can just pass around! Besides Edward didn't 'take' me, I went along with him!" She decided to omit the fact that they had drugged her at first, but at the moment she was here willingly and she definitely didn't want to go back with Jasper.

"And why did you come with them willingly Bella? You don't even know Edward!" Jasper said.

Bella had to think about that for a second, why did she go with him? She had known Edward, Jasper and Alice for less than what two weeks, three maybe? She had never done anything like this before.

"Because," she said hesitatingly, but instead of finishing her sentence she just sighed and let her shoulders droop.

"That's what I thought, I'm sure he told you all about us except for all the dirty details. You know our kind are very convincing." said Jasper.

Edward just stood there with his arms crossed, steaming with barely contained fury.

"Why don't you and me go talk without Edward?" Jasper suggested, who had also noticed Edward's stance, " If you still want to stay in _their_ place, I'll leave you alone."

"No way!" Edward interrupted, standing in between the two of them and glaring menacingly at Jasper.

But Bella gently place a hand on Edward's chest, trying to reassure him that it was al right.

"Fine, but after you have to swear you'll leave, deal?" Bella said

She didn't know why she trusted Edward more than Jasper. He just made her feel safe and warm, and when he wrapped his arms around her it was like someone had tucked her in with the fussiest, softest blanket you could ever imagine.

"Agreed" said Jasper with a big smile on his face, looking way to excited at the prospect of being alone with her.

Bella turned back towards Edward, he motioned that she should follow him.

When they were out of Jasper's hearing range Edward said: " I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't do Bella, but please be careful, we're very deceiving creatures. Even if you decide to go back with him, just promise that you'll hear me out first?"

"Don't worry about me Edward, I think I can handle myself. Al right? Besides I don't think this will take long, and I'll tell him that we're having our little chat right here in the inn. So if he tries anything you and your father will be right here." Bella answered.

They walked back to Jasper, and Bella told him about where she wanted them to have their conversation. Jasper didn't look happy about it but when he saw her face he knew it was non negotiable.

Bella sat down in a small booth tucked into the corner, she tried to sit as far away from Jasper as she could but he just slided right down beside her in the cramped space.

"Bella, I'm sure that Edward told you all about the war between our clans and how it was brought to a stand still. But what he probably didn't tell you was that he himself and the rest of his family were once on our side." Jasper began.

Bella bit her lip, she was already starting to feel a bit insecure about the amount of trust she had placed in Edward's story, but she promised herself that whatever Jasper told her she would still let Edward tell his side of the story.

"The war had already gone on for ages, so when the sorceress came trying to end it she came to our clan first. She told us that she would create a potion that would make us the winners of the war as long as we sent one of our young with her as an assistant.

We agreed, our kind had always had a good relationship with sorcerers and we had already heard good things about this one in particular before. The first child to volunteer was Tanya Grayson, Edward's sister. Since she was first it was decided that she would go along with the sorceress.

After a few weeks she came back with the potion. She told us there were clear instructions that we had to follow to complete it, but we just thought of her as a naïve girl and didn't really listen to her. My father, our leader was just about to pour some special kind of herbs into it when Tanya jumped in front of him.

But she was too late, the herbs were already added and it caused a small explosive reaction. The explosion was small but it was enough to kill the person standing right in front of it , Tanya.

Edward whose first name was Masen at the time and his father couldn't except that it was simply a tragic accident, and that Tanya had given up her life for the greater good. Edward's father had even yelled at our leader and said that our clan was evil and all the accusations placed against us were true.

After they buried Tanya's body, they left and joined the opposing clan. Masen even changed his name, to make sure he made a clean break from us.

When the sorceress heard of Tanya's death she decided that enough was enough and placed the curse on us that I'm sure Edward told you about." Jasper ended, finally finished with his story.

Bella was shocked, why did Jasper think that this would make her see Edward in a less positive light?

"Your precious clan killed an innocent little girl and you still try to turn Edward and his poor father into the bad guy?" Bella accused.

"Wh-why would you think that I would ever take your side on this?" Bella continued.

Jasper stood up and said hotly: " There are always casualties in war, yes it was unfortunate that an innocent was involved but still, the end justifies the means"

Bella couldn't listen to this any longer, Jasper was truly delusional if he thought she would agree with him on this. She didn't even understand why the others in his clan went along with it.

Surely there were mothers out there who knew they would feel exactly the same if it had been their child?

"If you truly believe that than I don't have anything more to say to you." Bella told him.

Jasper looked crestfallen, and when she tried to leave he grabbed her arm.

"Bella, I didn't want to tell you this yet but now I've got no choice," Jasper said, " I started keeping tabs on you over six months ago when you and your mother first visited our town. I immediately knew there was something special about you, it was just a gut feeling I guess…, but I was right! You're the one we've been waiting for!

Jasper paused for a moment and then continued: "Bella when I looked after you I saw what a kind and caring person you are, how smart, brave and passionate you were about the people and things you loved, I-I fell in love with you Bella, no wait I am in love with you.

**AN: So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, thank you so much for reading this story! If you were Bella how would you react to all of this? And isn't it strange that both Jasper and Edward never mentioned Edward's mother? If you have any ideas or constructive criticism please leave me a review to let me know. **


	9. Chapter 9

"What?" Bella asked, completely speechless, "You don't even know me! I mean we've barely had a conversation together!"

Jasper's grip on her arm tightened and he pulled her even closer to him, then suddenly he pressed his lips against hers.

Bella didn't even hesitate, she immediately pushed him off of her and yelled: "What do you think you're doing? I don't know what you're trying to achieve by doing this, but just stay away from me!"

By now everyone in the inn was staring at them, most of the men were glaring menacingly at Jasper.

Bella frantically searched the crowd for Edward and his father, finally she saw them by the stairs. Edward was already charging toward them and his father wasn't far behind.

"Young man, I strongly suggest that you leave now, you know the rules of our clan. Besides a challenge in our territory will always be in our favour." Edward's father's voice rumbled, seeming even more threatening with a handful of muscular men standing behind him.

Jasper's eyes flashed sapphire blue, so bright Bella couldn't help looking away.

He look at Bella one last time before saying: " Fine, but this isn't over! You took something of ours and we won't rest until it is returned!"

"Just stay away Jasper, I assure you that next time we won't be as lenient." said Edward who had come to stand beside her.

He had his arm around her waist and was practically crushing her.

But still she didn't move, she knew he needed this, needed to feel that she was al right and safe. She instinctively pressed herself closer to him.

Jasper stepped forward, but then stopped and seemed to think better of it and just stormed out, slamming the door behind him so harshly that a few of the near by chairs toppled over.

Edward led her to sit back down in the booth that she and Jasper had just occupied.

They were silent for a moment until Bella asked: "Is it true? What he said about your sister?"

His highly sensitive ears must have heard the conversation.

"Yes, but that isn't what's important right now, as long as you're safe." he said, but Bella heard the melancholy undertone in his voice.

Edward's father came up to them and said: "We need to leave, pack up your stuff and come to the stables."

Edward told her to wait and quickly bounded up the stairs to grab their bags, they hadn't had time to unpack the few things that Bella still had in her backpack.

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"Where are we going?" Bella asked, " why do we have to leave, Jasper left right?"

"He did but we can't risk him coming back with reinforcements, there are laws against it, but it's not like their clan cares about them." Edward replied.

They had reached the stables, where Edward's father was waiting with three horses. There was one with a dark brown coat, another with a black coat, and the last was a chestnut brown.

Edward lifted her onto the last one and then quickly jumped on his. Bella was glad that she'd had horse riding lessons as a little girl, otherwise she would have probably been terrified.

But it seemed that it didn't matter if she'd had lessons or not, the horse followed Edward and his father without any direction from her. He didn't go too fast or too slow and dodged any of the branched in their way without accidentally throwing her off.

After about an hour they stopped at a small cottage, it looked like it came straight out of a fairytale, with bright green vines climbing up the walls, blood red rose bushes in the front yard, dark green shutters and a warm, dark brown door.

Edward's father pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, motioning them to come inside.

Inside it was just as cosy as it looked from the outside, she could definitely see that there was a woman's touch. There were vases with flowers, fluffy decorative pillows, and a few small knick knacks scattered throughout the rooms.

"Where are we?" Bella asked them curiously.

"Our house, we bought this place right after we left…" Edward answered.

She wondered who else lived here, because there was no way that Edward or his father had decorated this place and she highly doubted that they had hired an interior decorator. Did dragons even have interior decorators?

She shook herself out of her musings and asked: " Does anyone else live here? Your mom maybe?"

Bella wished she'd just kept her mouth, by the boys facial expressions she had obviously hit a nerve.

"She used to," Edward faltered, but seeing Bella's questioning look he continued, " After Tanya's … death we all left and moved here. For the first few weeks everything was al right. We were all obviously mourning Tanya but still we were safe and together."

Edward took a deep breath and then carried on: " But one day my aunt came by, at first we thought she'd come to live with us. She was also very affected by Tanya's death. But she wanted to talk to my mother alone first, before she told us anything.

Till this day I still don't know what my aunt said to my mother, all I know is that after about two hours they both came out. I could see that my mother had been crying.

She told my father and I that she was returning to the other clan. She said that she would understand if my father couldn't return but she begged me to come with her.

I was so shocked and hurt by her betrayal that I just slammed the door in her face and waited for her to leave. She waited an entire week for me to come out but eventually she just gave up.

After five years I still haven't tried talking to my mother, even if it was just to find out why. I'm not even sure they'd let me at this point." Edward looked down, Bella came closer and wrapped her arms around him.

His father who'd up to this point had stayed at the door, his face emotionless, also came and sat down next to them. Gently patting his son on the shoulder.

The he said: "We will only stay here for a few hours, so take a shower, rest up, and have a quick bite to eat. I want to make it to the neo-phàirteach (= neutraal, kdacht omdat beide groepen daar konden komen?) before sun down."

Bella and Edward didn't really have much time to talk, his father was always around in the small house. They passed the time with a few games, and asked each other questions about their lives.

"So I know that you live with your mother but what about your father?" Edward asked tentatively.

Bella had never told someone besides their family about her father. But after Edward had been so honest to her about his mother she knew she had to.

"About two years ago, me and my mom had left to do some shopping, my dad stayed behind at home. In the middle of our shopping trip we suddenly got an urgent phone call from our neighbour, who told us that there had been a fire at our house.

We immediately rushed back home, tremendously worried about my dad. By the time we got there, the firemen had gotten the fire under control but they hadn't found my father. Thankfully they hadn't found a body either, we thought my dad had just stepped out and forgot his cell phone.

But he didn't return that night, after twenty-four hours my mother and I reported him missing. But he just….never turned up. I still have nightmares about all of the things that could have happened to my dad, a kidnapping maybe? I think I've gone over about a million scenarios in my head.

But the strange thing was that the firemen couldn't find a point of origin for the fire. There was also no evidence of foul play, it was like the fire just spontaneously arose in the middle of the room." Bella finished.

It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, Bella was so glad that she was able to tell someone.

She glanced up at Edward, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"You said it was like the fire just came out of nowhere right?" Edward asked.

Bella nodded, not sure where he was going with this.

"Like someone breathing fire." Edward's father's deep voice finished.

**AN: Thank you all so much for reading! This was kind of a filler chapter but I really wanted to explain the absence of Edward's mom and Bella's father. Of course we will be hearing from them a bit later in the story ;), Please let me now what you thought and constructive criticism is always welcome.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Wait so you think my father," Bella said, "was like you guys?"

"There is a chance, I mean you can see the medallion and you don't seem to be suffering any side effects of travelling to our world." said Edward's father, " Your mother is probably mortal and that's why you don't have any powers."

"But…." Bella whispered.

"But it's definitely a lot more likely that your father was attacked because he possessed something of our kind."Edward interrupted, in an effort to comfort her. Instead he only made it worse.

Bella had never really considered that her father was actually murdered, she always hoped he was still alive or that it had been some kind of accident.

She let herself fall on a soft couch while Edward's father was rumbling around in the kitchen and Edward himself had gone into the bathroom for a quick shower. She could even hear him singing slightly, and it made her laugh a bit.

"Do you want to eat something?" Edward's dad asked softly while he handed her a bowl filled with something that looked like porridge.

She took it from him and said: " Thank you… I actually still don't know what your name is."

Edward's dad smiled and went to sit across from her: " My name is Carlisle, unlike Edward I didn't change my name after Tanya."

"So do you really think that my father was a- a…" Bella didn't finish her sentence.

"I don't know," he replied with a sigh, " I know that I've never heard about him, and I only met you when we brought you here."

Even if it didn't really mean anything, it still made her feel a lot better. Bella heard the faucet getting turned off in the bathroom and a while later Edward came out and sat down next to Bella.

His hair hung in front of his eyes, they weren't combed or styled, they were just all over the place and looked extremely messy. He wrapped his arms around Bella and placed his head on her shoulder.

"I'm also going to freshen up quickly." she said and walked into the bathroom.

The bathroom wasn't big but at least it wasn't as medieval as the rest of the things around here. She took off her clothes and stepped into the shower, the water wasn't actually hot but it would do. She looked at her arm and noticed that there was something wrong, she'd only taken off her sweatshirt once before on this trip and that was in the dark. So she hadn't noticed it before.

Had this been here the whole time? She stepped out of the shower and quickly put her clothes back on.

She stepped out of the bathroom and marched to Edward and Carlisle, she stuck out her arm and said: "What the hell is wrong with me."

Edward came closer and gently took her arm in his hands.

He frowned and looked up at Carlisle: " Jasper must have placed a curse on you when he grabbed your arm back at the inn."

"Why? Why would he do that?" Bella asked trying not to burst out in tears. There were transparent blue scales all over her arms.

"Probably because the Liath Suilean know that we need you human, they are also the only ones that can cast this curse and undo it, we'll have to go to one of them so that he or she can undo the curse. But they sure as hell won't do it willingly."

"So what do I have to do?" Bella asked nervously.

"You can't do anything, we'll have to got to a Liath suilean so that he can undo the curse." Answered Carlisle, " We had better leave now before you completely change into one of us."

Bella looked into Edward's eyes. He closed his eyes and grabbed her waist. Bella saw that Edward pushed himself closer to her, but just when she thought that he would kiss her, he pulled back and said: "Everything will be al right, ok? I'll take care of you I promise."

"Are you guys going to stand there or are we going to find a Liath that can fix all of this?" said Carlisle who stood in the doorway.

The two of them walked over to the door together. Edward helped Bella onto her horse once more and untied it.

Bella didn't know how long they were riding but eventually they reached an enormous gate made entirely out of gold. She looked up in awe and saw that there were also tiny diamonds engraved into the gate's handles.

"Where are we going?" she asked looking around in astonishment. Behind the gate was a sparkling city, the buildings were the colour of bright pastels, golds, and silvers.

"This is the neutral zone, both clans are allowed to roam free here. You know Elezaer right? He probably has a store here as well, he seemed to like you well enough. Hopefully he'll help us." Edward answered, but Bella didn't miss the doubtful glance he shared with his father.

Carlisle placed his hand on the gate, which opened by itself. Edward urged his horse on and Bella's soon followed.

After riding for about five more minutes and a lot more gawking from Bella she asked: "Where are we going to find Elezaer? I mean this place is huge!"

Edward looked back and said: "In the next quarter, Elezaer has got a small shop there, hopefully there won't be too many people around.

"There it is." said Carlisle, who pointed to a small gathering of shops, that looked like they could have been painted by Da Vinci himself.

Once they arrived, they jumped off their horses and tied them up at the first inn they saw.

Carlisle said: " Why don't you two wait here, I'll go ask around where we can find Elezaer."

Carlisle left and Edward walked over to a bench that was hidden under a large willow tree. Bella followed him, while trying to take in as much of her surroundings that she could.

"It's so pretty here." said Bella dreamily.

"Yeah," answered Edward, not looking at her, " I love being here, it makes me feel so privileged and being here with you makes me feel even more special. Like I really matter."

Bella looked at him, and she saw that Edward's eyes had lighted up again, " Why wouldn't you feel special, and besides you make me feel the same way...you've come mean a lot to me in the last few days." Bella confessed.

Edward looked at her, then he focussed on her arm and grabbed her hands: "I promise that I'll fix this Bella, let me take another look."

Bella shoved up her sleeve and saw that the scales had spread even more, they now almost reached her wrist.

"Where is he, we need to do this as quickly as possible." said Edward, feeling frustrated. He searched through the crowd until he said: "There he is!"

He jumped up and sprinted towards his father. Carlisle waved to Bella and motioned that she should come as well. She stood up and walked towards them.

"We're almost there, the shop is just around the corner." said Carlisle while they kept walking.

The store's bell range throughout the shop, and echoed through the empty shelves. From somewhere in the back of the store someone said: " I'll be right there, but you can look around a bit."

Carlisle answered: "We aren't here for your baubles Elezaer, we have some serious business to discuss.

Elezaer immediately stuck his head around the corner, his mouth falling open in shock when he saw Bella.

Edward had noticed it too and said: " I see that Jasper hasn't told anyone yet about his little visit has he? Not surprising after the things he's done." He finished by holding up Bella's arm.

Elezaer didn't need any other explanation, he already knew what it meant.

"You say Jasper did this to her?" Elezaer clarified.

"Yes, the golden boy can do wrong, it seems." Edward growled out.

"Well, I don't agree with his actions, but our prince must have a valid reason for doing what he did. I'm afraid I can't help you."

"Please!" Bella yelled, shocked by the callous why he ignored the problem, " You've got to help me, how can you agree with Jasper? He's causing me to change against my will! Surely you can't choose his side?"

"I'm sorry young one, but I've chosen my alliance and whatever the prince and the king do, I will always agree." Elezaer answered in a monotone voice.

"Are you completely mad?" Bella asked outraged, she was about to say something else but Carlisle pushed her back gently.

"I've got a proposition for you Elezaer, I know you've hated me ever since I married Esme. We'll batailt , if I win you give us the potion to reverse the curse, if you win… well you'll have what you've always wanted: my death." Carlisle finished.

Elezaer furrowed his brows and thought for a moment but then simply said: " Agreed."

"Dad! No! You can't do this! There has got to be another way!" Edward yelled.

Bella didn't really understand what was going on, but even she knew what the consequences would be of this _batailt. _

Carlisle didn't listen to Edward's cries and instead followed Elezaer, who was walking toward the back of the store.

**AN: Well I really tried to get this chapter up, I'm not entirely happy with it so why don't you tell me what you think? Are Carlisle and Elezaer actually going to fight? Who do you think might win? Will Bella be changed before they get their hands on the potion? Let me know by writing a review and like always any constructive criticism is welcome :) Till next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

To Bella's surprise there was a small but beautiful garden hidden behind the store. Eleazar went to stand in the middle of it, Carlisle went to stand behind him with their backs touching. They both took six large steps forward and then turned around to face each other.

"What are they going to do?" Bella asked Edward.

"Batailt, they'll fight until one of them gives up, but our kind is very stubborn, they usually keep fighting till…" answered Edward, who was looking extremely worried.

"But…" Bella didn't know what to say.

"The only thing we can do now is hope that my father is the strongest of the two." said Edward while he turned himself toward Bella.

"Let's get started." said Carlisle seriously, his facial expression didn't show any sign of fear.

A second later there was complete silence, both men readied themselves and then literally flew at each other. It was such a strange sight for Bella, for a moment they just stood there floating, but then Carlisle punched Eleazar with a fist of fire. Eleazar who hadn't been expecting it fell down to the ground. But he quickly recovered and flew back up at such a high speed that Bella almost missed it.

Eleazar grabbed Carlisle's arm and yelled something that Bella couldn't quite understand.

"Spells! That's against the rules Eleazar and you know it!" said Edward.

"How so? Can't your father just cast a spell as well?" asked Bella confused.

"He could, but my father's spells aren't that good, they never work out quite right. Besides that isn't the point, the batailt is from when we could change into our dragon forms. You see in our dragon forms we can't perform any magic, and now even if we can't change into dragons any more it is still forbidden to use magic during the fight.

Carlisle's fists were no longer on fire. Apparently Eleazar's spell had deactivated Carlisle's powers, but it didn't last long because not even ten seconds later Carlisle roared in Eleazar's direction and breathed fire.

Eleazar got hit but it didn't seem to affect him. Carlisle punched Eleazar in the gut which caused him to fly back backwards and slammed against the wall where Bella and Edward were standing, causing them to duck away to avoid any of the debris.

Eleazar quickly got back up and now it was his turn to go on the offensive, he pushed himself against the wall and let his fists catch fire. The color of the flames weren't orange like Carlisle's, instead they were a cobalt blue, just like his eyes.

He hit Carlisle who had tried to fend off the attack, causing Carlisle to tumble backwards. Luckily he could just stop himself from flying out of the garden.

But his distraction had given Eleazar an opening, and he quickly punched Carlisle several times. With one heavy blow Carlisle had managed to push Eleazar away from him and he quickly flew upwards and then dove down to crash down on Eleazar.

They both flew in the direction of the ground and Eleazar slammed against the ground with a loud boom. He had hit the ground at such a high speed that there was now a large crater surrounding him.

Thankfully Carlisle had managed to pull back just before impact, so that he wouldn't get hurt.

To Bella's surprise Eleazar just stood back up, the only sign that he had gotten hurt was a slight limp and the fact that he seemingly couldn't fly any more.

Now they both remained on the ground, Carlisle grabbed Eleazar and threw him up in the air. He mumbled something and then there was suddenly a bright flash of light. Moments later Eleazar fell down with a dull sound he hit the ground and stayed down. Carlisle looked at his hands in wonder, from what Bella had heard he was probably in shock that the spell had actually worked.

Bella was shocked by the sound and gasped for air. "Did-did you kill him?" she stuttered out.

Carlisle landed next to Eleazar's body and said something, but Bella didn't hear it. She started walking backwards and then started running, she was scared. If Carlisle could do this to one of his own kind what would he do with her. Edward hadn't even noticed that she had started running, he just remained frozen, staring at his father and Eleazar.

Bella had entered the shop again, but quickly got lost. It seemed like a labyrinth, she needed to go left, right? For a moment she stood still and looked around. The shop wasn't as small as it seemed, and it was filled with books. She seemingly passed hundreds of shelves but still couldn't find an exit, after what seemed like hours but had probably only been five minutes she stumbled upon some stairs.

"Maybe from higher up I'll be able to see the door." She thought aloud.

She went up the stairs, at the top there were even more shelves. Enchanted by the old covers she wandered through the shelves. She picked up a book and leafed through it.

"Bella!?" she heard Edward call out, "Please I know you're upset but you really need to take the potion. The spell Jasper used was meant to turn a Pari into a human not the other way around. We don't know how you'll react to it! Please I don't want you to die Bella!"

Bella sighed, she was still shocked by Carlisle's power, but Edward would never hurt her, would he? Somebody came up the stairs. Bella quickly ran to the end of the hallway and ducked behind one of the shelves.

"Come on Bella," said Edward frustrated, "Eleazar isn't dead!"

She couldn't help herself: " I saw him didn't I?" she called out. She immediately regretted it it, because now she heard Edward walking towards her.

"I'm not going to deny that he isn't badly insured, but so is my father. A spell like that is meant to drain the energy out of someone, not kill them. Elezaer will heal and he'll probably live for another century or so." said Edward calmly.

She then felt Edward's warm hand on her shoulder, but she didn't dare to look up.

Edward crouched down in front of her and gently lifted her chin up.

"I would never hurt you," he whispered, " drink this, just one sip, for me?"

Bella took the bottle from him. It was decorated beautifully , it was blood-red with a cap in the shape of a dragon. She hesitantly took a sip and then closed it again.

Underneath her sweater her skin began to heat up. Edward pulled up her sleeves and saw that Bella's skin was returning to normal.

He laughed: " That's one less thing we have to worry about, I was really scared that you weren't going to make it."

He looked up from her arm and looked into her eyes. Edward blushed slightly and came closer, he hesitated again but this time Bella pulled him closer. She put her arms around his shoulders and gently pushed her lips against his. The kiss was soft, there was a bit of hesitation on both their parts and they intertwined, as if to memorize each other. The moved closer again, their lips moving against each other at a slow pace. But they were interrupted by Carlisle calling out.

"Did you find her Edward? Did the potion work?"

They withdrew from each other, Bella looked up shyly, Edward's eyes were shining again but it was different this time. His eye were lighter and there were swirls of dark red and gold mixed in, as if she was looking at a sunset.

Edward cleared his throat and in a voice a bit higher than usual he asked, " What were you um reading?"

Bella was glad that he had broken the silence and answered: " I don't know, it's written in a strange language."

Edward looked at the page and stared at it, dumbfounded. "This can't be?"

"What?" Bella asked curiously.

He looked up shortly but then kept on reading: "This is it, you found it! Out of all of the books here you found it! DAD! Come up here!"

Bella was still confused: "What? What did I find?"

"The book that we're looking for, this had the ritual that we need to get to the portal and reverse the curse!" Edward answered excitedly.

They both heard heavy footsteps bounding up the stairs.

"What is it Edward? Did something happen?" Carlisle asked nervously.

"No dad, Bella found it! She found the book!" Edward said.

"Well done!" Carlisle said smiling, " Does it also say where we need to go?"

"Yeah, it has everything!' Edward replied.

"I guess it's all just a happy coincidence." Bella said, she wanted to continue but faltered when she saw Eleazar in the corner.

Carlisle saw that she was looking at him and said: "I didn't kill him, he'll awaken tomorrow with headache and a few stiff muscles but he'll survive. I've never killed anyone in my life Bella and I definitely wouldn't hurt you."

Bella looked at Carlisle and saw that he really meant it, Edward also looked at her and said: " I promised you I would take care of you, didn't I?"

Bella stood up and went to stand next to Edward and grabbed his hand.

Smiling up at him she said: "I know."

"How did you know which page to turn to?" Carlisle asked curiously while studying the book.

Edward and Bella looked at each other and shrugged.

"Coincidence?" Bella said unsure, but with all the things that happened recently, she sincerely doubted it.

**AN: I'm sorry for any mistakes, I haven't been able to proofread this chapter. I hope that you were still able to enjoy it, even with all of the mistakes. Did you think that Eleazar was really dead? Was it really all just a coincidence that Bella found the page? Please let me know what you think in the reviews. Thank you all so much for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

They didn't stay at Kai's shop for long, soon they were already on their way to the capitol, where they would find out how to reach the portal. Carlisle had wrapped the book up in his jacket and after he shoved it in his bag.

After a while the three of them were standing alone on an open field.

"Grab the map again, please." said Edward to his father.

On a whim Bella asked them something that had been bugging her for a while: " Why don't you guys just fly over there?"

Carlisle took the book out of his bag and leafed through it until he reached the page that they needed.

After studying the map for a moment Carlisle answered. " Because flying is extremely exhausting and besides we couldn't carry you with us so we'd have to leave you behind."

Bella wanted to say something else but Edward and Carlisle were focused on the map once more.

"I don't think that we'll make it today and there aren't any villages near by, we'll have to set up camp somewhere out here." said Carlisle after a moment.

"Why don't we keep riding for another hour?" Bella suggested, "Then we'll still have some light to set up camp but we'll still have gotten a bit farther."

"All right." said Carlisle, "By that time we'll have reached the woods, so we'll have the trees to hide us from anyone's view."

Bella looked out in front of her and then encouraged her horse to ride next to Edward's.

"Aren't you tired yet." Edward asked when she was riding next to her.

"I'm okay, I slept pretty well." answered Bella.

"Don't expect to sleep well tonight, the woods here are full of dangerous creatures. My father and I will probably take turns keeping watch." said Edward seriously.

"I'll watch out," replied Bella, Edward looked at her again and started blushing slightly, his eyes turning that burnt orange colour again.

When they reached an open spot in the woods Carlisle immediately put them to work.

"Will you gather some wood for the fire Bella? And Edward look around for some water that we can drink, I'll try to make a shelter in case it might rain." Carlisle ordered.

"Come with me," said Edward with a teasing smile, he took her hand and pulled her with him, " We can look for the wood and water together."

"What are we going to do?" Bella asked curiously.

"You'll see, you're really going to love it." answered Edward enthusiastically.

They were only walking for a short while in the direction that they came in before Edward pulled her even deeper into the woods.

"I saw it when we passed by on our horses." he said while he went to sit on his knees.

Suddenly a lot of little creatures appeared from under the bushes. They looked just like kittens except for the fact that they were bright purple with red stripes and they had a pair of razor sharp fangs.

"Oh, how cute." whispered Bella who also went to kneel down on her knees.

"I think they're about two weeks old, seeing that their mother isn't with them any more." said Edward while he plopped one down on his lap.

Bella stuck out her hand to pet the little thing. The animal pulled back suddenly, scared by it's sudden movement Bella pulled back as well.

"Oh," she said disappointed.

"They just aren't used to people, don't worry you can pet it." Edward laughed.

Bella leaned closer to Edward and gently started petting it, after a few strokes it wasn't as frightened any more.

"I don't want you think that…," Edward started nervously, "I mean you're more to me than the girl that can lift the curse, you're pretty, think quick on your feet, and funny. I think I'm in love with you Bella."

He set the little kitten down and cupped her cheek, they were so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face and she felt his warmth seep into her. She nestled into his hand and looked up at him from under her lashes. His eyes kept flitting between her eyes and her lips until he finally pressed his against hers. It wasn't soft and gentle like last time, his lips were demanding and dominated her own. She didn't know how much time went by but when they finally separated it was already dark outside.

Smiling sheepishly Edward said: " Well I guess we should look for some wood before my dad gets to worried."

Not long after, Edward and Bella were walking back laughing with a pile of wood in their arms. Carlisle was already waiting under a crudely built tent. He had built it with some thick tree branches, mud, and leaves.

"You guys didn't find any water?" he asked after they had thrown down the pile of wood that they had collected.

"Ah no, by the time we had collected the firewood it was too dark to find any nearby streams." Edward said, while Bella was trying not to burst out laughing.

Carlisle smiled with a knowing look in his eyes and said: " Al right, but first thing in the morning I want you guys to find some water. We'll need to drink something before we leave again besides I'm hoping that we'll reach the the capital tomorrow."

They had left early the next day and hadn't stopped to take a break, so by the evening they had already arrived at the capitol. There was humongous wall around the city and a large wooden gate surrounded by a handful of guards kept watch.

"What is the reason for your visit?" one of the guards asked, his eyes looking straight ahead instead of at them.

"We'd like to have an audience with the head priest of the Oráiste suilean clan." Carlisle replied in a demanding tone of voice.

The guards eyes narrowed, it was now that Bella noticed that they were also a deep bluish-green colour like Jasper's or Kai's. Bella looked at the other guards surrounding the gate and saw that there was a mix of blue eyes and the same burnt orange eyes that Edward and his father had. She also noticed that there was definitely a lot of animosity between the two different clans.

The ones with the orange eyes were all grouped together and often eyed the other with suspicious eyes. In turn the blue-eyed guards watched them wearily as well.

Bella's ogling was soon interrupted by the guard that Carlisle had spoken to, with obvious reluctance he answered: " Very well, he is meditating at the most northern temple of the Oráiste suilean."

Without replying Carlisle stepped past the guard and entered the capitol, not wanting to be left behind Bella didn't waste any time following him and Edward.

After riding in silence for another five minutes they stopped at a stable located near an old inn. They payed a stable boy to take care of the horses and then continued on foot.

Bella had a bit of trouble keeping up with the guys, Edward noticed that she was pretty far behind and quickly slowed his pace nudging Carlisle so that he would do the same.

"So where are we going now?" Bella panted, still trying to catch her breath.

"Over to the head priest of our clan, he'll help us locate the portal and test us to see if we're worthy of the quest." Edward explained while he reached out to grab her hand.

"Tests? What tests are you talking about?" Bella questioned suddenly feeling nervous.

Edward soothingly rubbed his thumb up and down her hand in an attempt to calm her down.

"They aren't any physical tests or anything that you could have studied for. Uhm...how do I explain it?" Edward replied.

"It's like you seeing the medallion even though you're mostly human. To explain it simply he'll test your soul to see if you're worthy. We don't want to send you and Edward out on a wild goose chase to find a portal, only to find out that you can't cross it." Carlisle interrupted.

"Al right" Bella said uncertainly, " it isn't dangerous or anything right?"

Edward smiled and said: " Of course not, would I ever let anything happen to you a chroí?"

"What does that mean?" Bella asked smiling.

Edward wrapped his arms around her and pressed his forehead against hers. Quietly he whispered: " It means heart."

Carlisle cleared his throat awkwardly " I need to talk to you about something, there is something that I haven't told you. Something I haven't told the both of you." He finished seriously.

He motioned that they should sit down. Bella could see that Edward was apprehensive so she quickly asked: " What haven't you told us?"

Carlisle let out a deep sigh and replied: " You know that to reach the portal you'll have to complete a quest, right?" They both nodded, " Well it's actually a series of quests and some are more dangerous than others."

Edward stood up and started to pace around: " So you want to tell us that we could get hurt on our way to the portal?" he clarified.

Carlisle nodded and continued: "It gets worse, if Bella isn't the girl that we think she is, if her soul for some reason won't be accepted when you both step through the portal, you'll both die." he ended gravely.

Bella was shocked, was she actually prepared to risk her life for this? Was she prepared for any of this? She wasn't some warrior or whatever, she was just a normal girl from some po-dunk town in Seattle.

But looking at Edward and his father, she knew that she couldn't abandon them. She saw how they could be mistreated by the other clan and couldn't let it just continue like this, she didn't want Tanya's death to be pointless.

Besides she would never forgive herself if Jasper was able to lift up the curse because she was too afraid to do it herself.

Edward wasn't as convinced though, angrily he asked: "And you're only mentioning this now? How could you? How will we even know for sure if she can go through the portal? Just hope we get lucky?"

To his credit, Carlisle stayed even with an enraged Edward yelling at him. "That's why we're going to the head priest, he'll tell us if she is the one or not. If she doesn't pass the test we'll know immediately and she won't be put in any more danger, al right?"

Bella saw that Edward still wasn't convinced and decided to speak up.

"I don't agree with you keeping this from us, I mean it's a pretty big deal. But we have to at least try Edward! I know you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself if you let your clan down now.

**AN: So I hope you guys liked this chapter, thank you all so much for reading. As always any constructive criticism is welcome and please review :) Next chapter they're on their on way to the portal. **


	13. Chapter 13

"Edward please, you know that I wouldn't let you two do this without taking every single precaution necessary. I don't want to lose another child, son." Carlisle said genuinely.

Edward didn't answer for a minute but soon he said: " Fine. But dad please, no more lies, Ok?"

"I promise son." Carlisle replied squeezing his shoulder.

They were all silent for a while until Bella said: " So this priest- where is he? How far is it?"

Bella really hoped that it wouldn't be too much further, she was extremely exhausted by now, she hadn't been able to sleep at all last night.

First of all because of the ground, which had been ice cold and rock hard, but also because of her kiss with Edward.

Her feelings were growing stronger by the day and even though Edward already admitted that he loved her she still wasn't ready to say the same.

Truth was that she'd never said I love you to a guy before, sure she'd had one or two boyfriends before but they were never serious. Besides even if she was ready to tell him it would be way too awkward with his father hovering around. Still she did appreciate Carlisle's presence, especially with what happened at Elezaer's.

"Oh don't worry it's in walking distance, if we walk at a brisk pace I'm sure

we'll be there in five minutes or so." Carlisle told her.

And he was right, not long after they reached the temple. Just like everything else in this world it was beautiful. It was immense, there was one tower that climbed over the main building and could have been as high as a skyscraper.

She closed her eyes and took a breath, she could smell the heady scent of jasmine in the air. She looked around and saw that there was a small herb garden on the right side of the building.

She didn't have a lot of time to gawk at the temple before Edward was pulling her with him towards the large, rounded oak doors.

"Sagart?" Carlisle's warm voice echoed through the building.

"Sagart, what kind of name is that?" Bella whispered to Edward.

He smiled and whispered back: " Sagart isn't a name, it means priest. We're not allowed to know the names of our priests or bishops. It could potentially put them in danger, if rogue Pari- that's the name of our species by the way, know the name of our priests they could decide to kill them to send some kind of 'message'."

Bella kind of understood, but still she wondered " But if she call the priests and the bishops sagart, how do people know which one you're talking to?"

" Oh, sorry I should have explained it better. Bishops are called easbuig."

Edward laughed.

He wanted to say more but their conversation was cut short by the footsteps coming their way. Soon an old man came into view, he was wearing a mauve coloured robe and had short, light grey hair.

He had an extremely angular face, but his deep brown eyes made him seem approachable. His robe had long, wide sleeves and if he raised his arms slightly she could see strange markings running across them, she thought that they might be tattoos but after everything that had happened, she couldn't be sure.

"Carlisle had already sent a messenger to let me know why you're here so let's not beat around the bush. So you think that your soul is worthy of the portal created by the most powerful sorceress of the century?" The man asked.

"I-ah" Bella stuttered not sure how to answer him.

But it didn't matter because he continued as if he hadn't heard her: " If you do believe that then we must put your theory to the test. I will not let an innocent get hurt or worse if there is something that I can do to prevent it."

"Al right then, so what are we waiting for?" Carlisle asked impatiently.

The man led them through the gorgeous building, they were walking through a long hall with a ridiculous amount of doors.

"Why are there so many rooms?" Bella asked no one in specific.

The sagart answered her question and said: "The rooms are for the Oráiste people living in the capitol, they're here just in case of a tragedy or a disaster. To make sure that our people are safe."

They were walked further for a bit longer until the sagart took out a bunch of keys, he put one of the keys into the lock, it surprised Bella that he knew exactly which one he needed to use.

They stepped inside the room, Bella was happy with the sight of a chair. She wasn't sure if she could stay standing for much longer. All four of them took their seats around a kind of fireplace. Above the fire hung a small pot.

"Let's not waste any time." said sagart and then he blew some fire causing the wood to catch fire.

He stood up and motioned for Bella to stand as well. Bella obeyed and stood up. She looked at Edward nervously, and saw that he was frowning also.

She let her lips form the words: it'll be al right, but didn't actually utter a sound.

Edward's face relaxed, and he visibly calmed down, but he still didn't look convinced.

"Raise your hand and place it just above the pot." Sagart requested.

In the pot was a green liquid, the steam coming out of the pot was starting to hurt her hand and Bella winced.

"Say your name at loud while cutting through your heated hand so a droplet of your blood falls into the pot." said the man.

"What?" asked Bella surprised, she thought that she wouldn't get hurt and the thought of cutting herself seriously freaked her out.

The man sighed, but stayed patient: " Cut your hand with this dagger and let a droplet of your blood fall into the pot."

Bella took the dagger that the man was holding out for her, she looked at Edward and now all the small scars made sense. They were probably from another ritual like this.

She pressed the dagger into her left hand, She barely used any pressure before she felt the stinging pain and pulled back quickly. The cut started pounding, she made fist and let a drop of her blood fall into the pot.

The sagart gave her a bandage for her cut. Edward stood up and helped her. He whispered: "If he asks you to hurt yourself again just tell him no, ok?"

She nodded but knew that she would do it anyway if she thought she was in any real danger, after all the cut wasn't that large and it didn't even hurt any more

"So what now?" she asked the man curiously.

"Now we wait, in a few minutes the potion will change colour, if it turns black that means that your soul isn't pure enough, if it turns white then your soul is pure and you will be able to go through the portal.

They waited in silence, the tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. But then the potion began to simmer and not soon after it began to boil.

The steam around the pot was so thick that they couldn't see a thing, but soon it started to clear. But the sagart stood in front of it blocking it from their view.

Impatiently Edward asked: "Well? Which colour is it?"

The sagart turned, his face giving nothing away.

**AN: Thank you all so much for reading and all of your reviews and favourites. You have no idea how happy they make me. If any one is interested in proofreading the next chapters please pm me :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: My grandfather passed away this Sunday...and I really haven't been in the mood to write much, I'm sorry it's taking so long for a chapter to go up. I'm hoping to get one up next week but it really depends on how I feel and if I've got any inspiration. Thank you all so much for your patience, I do have a small sneak peak for you guys though.**

"This can't be true." whispered the sagart, " Give me the book again, maybe I used the wrong spells or ingredients."

"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked while handing the book over to the sagart.

"I don't know… I don't understand." he answered while rereading the text over and over again. He turned a page and read further. He sighed deeply and looked Bella in the eyes.

"What? What is it?" Bella asked growing increasingly more alarmed. She felt that Edward had come to stand behind her, squeezing her shoulders in an effort to keep her calm.

The sagart moved out from in front of the pot and she saw that the liquid wasn't white nor black, the colour was blood red.

"Red, that wasn't an option was it? Did I drop too much blood into it or something?" Bella started babbling.

"Bella," said the sagart, " here says: _the colour of the potion will turn white with a candidate of pure soul and black with a soul that isn't. With a pari's blood the colour won't change. When I myself took the test the potion turned blood red." _


	15. Chapter 15

"This can't be true." whispered the sagart, " Give me the book again, maybe I used the wrong spells or ingredients."

"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked anxiously while handing the book over to the sagart.

"I don't know… I don't understand." he answered, while rereading the text over and over again. He turned a page and read further. He sighed deeply and looked Bella in the eyes.

"What? What is it?" Bella asked growing increasingly more alarmed. She felt that Edward had come to stand behind her, squeezing her shoulders in an effort to keep her calm.

The sagart moved out from in front of the pot and she saw that the liquid wasn't white nor black, the colour was blood red.

"Red, that wasn't an option was it? Did I drop too much blood into it or something?" Bella started babbling, desperate to find some kind of explanation for it. She didn't know much about this world but she had come to learn that surprises were almost never good.

"Bella," said the sagart, " the book says: _the colour of the potion will turn white with a candidate with a pure soul and black with a soul that isn't. With a pari's blood the colour won't change. When I myself took the test the potion turned blood red." _This text was written by the sorceress that cursed our kind. Bella this means that you are a sorceress."

"That isn't possible." stammered Bella, "My mother would have mentioned it, besides I would have noticed if she had magical powers or whatever."

"Magic skips a generation Bella, it could be that your grandmother never told her daughter." said Carlisle trying to calm her down.

"Has your grandmother never said anything strange to you or shown you something that wasn't for lack of a better word, normal?" asked Edward who was now standing in front of her so that she wouldn't keep staring blankly at the potion.

"I never knew my grandmother, my mom always said that she lived abroad." answered Bella who pushed her hair behind her ear.

"You know it would be quite easy to figure out to which magical clan you belong to," said the sagart, "In total there are seven different magical families. If we find the books with their family trees you could find out to which of them you belong to?"

Bella sat down on one of the chairs, and she let her head fall in her hands. All of this was really starting to get out of hand.

She heard Carlisle ask the sagart, " So does she meet the requirements?"

"Of course, all of the sorcerers do, but most of them don't want one side of the Pari to win the war or don't want to meddle in another sorceresses magic. That's why they haven't done anything about it yet." answered the sagart.

Edward sat down in front of her, he took her hands and looked into her eyes: "I know that this is a lot to take in….are you ok?

Bella answered:" I'm al right, I don't think it's sunk in yet...how is it even possible that I never knew this? You'd think that I showed some signs right?"

Edward hugged her to him: "I remember that I once read that sorceresses don't show any signs of magical powers until their seventeenth birthday. But still it could be that you already have a few powers but that they're laying dormant." Edward said comfortingly.

"We're going to get some books in the temple's library , you two can wait here." interrupted the sagart.

"Okay." They answered in unison and then the two men walked out the door. Edward and Bella sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

Bella then said: " What do you mean laying dormant?"

"Uhm, well because you didn't know about your powers you haven't been able to practise summoning them. But you can see magical things like the medallion and you can walk around in our world without any side effects."

Bella let her head fall on Edward's shoulder and sighed.

She grinned and said: " I just hope that I won't get a pointy nose or warts."

"That won't happen, mostly sorceresses are extremely attractive. In the old days it wasn't against the law for sorceresses to go to the mortal world and

so they would seduce human males to come with them as sacrifices or something else. In the dark ages though people were a lot more suspicious and not as easily led astray." Edward replied.

"That's kind of creepy, I can't imagine doing anything like that- so do you really think that we can find my family?" Bella asked again.

"I hope so, your grandmother's grandmother might even still be alive, your kind live for a long time." Edward answered seriously.

Carlisle and the sagart returned, they both had two extremely heavy books in their arms, another boy came in and brought three books in as well. The boy left quickly though.

"Well then, these are the family trees of the seven head families." said Carlisle.

After searching in the books for over an hour they still hadn't found Bella or her family, the sagart said that might come from a family that were closer to the Liath suilean and that the other clan had kept her existence a secret.

"Or her family just kept themselves a secret, when I was still a member of the Liath suilean I never heard of Bella." said Carlisle.

"Doesn't really matter, let's just focus on getting to the portal." said Bella, who was disappointed.

"Good point, we should get started on the quests, I really don't want to risk

Jasper finding us again." said Edward who noticed that Bella was getting more and more irritated.

The sagart stood up and said: " All right, the first quest is in the book from then on you'll have to follow the map and figure out the clues. Good luck to you both."

Bella grabbed Edward's hand and gripped it tightly, together they walked through the long dark hallways searching their way back to the door, Carlisle was walking a few steps behind them.

But then the sagart called out again: " Wait! Only one pair is allowed to enter the portal, sorry Carlisle I'm afraid that you won't be able to accompany them"

Edward and Bella turned towards Carlisle, Bella wanted to protest but Carlisle already said: " It'll be ok, you don't need my help." They had reached the exit and Carlisle motioned for them to go.

Edward stepped in front of his dad and said: "I don't know when we'll be back but I promise that when we do we'll come with good news."

"Good luck son." Carlisle replied, his voice breaking ever so slightly. He handed the bag with their supplies and the magic book over to Edward.

Bella released Edward's hand and gave Carlisle a hug. Carlisle was surprised but still awkwardly patted her back until she let him go.

"Goodbye Bella, I know you'll do well." Carlisle smiled

The two of them stepped outside of the grand temple and followed the path the map indicated.

Edward wrapped his arm around her, his warmth comforting her and soothing her nerves over what was coming.

They both knew that when they returned everything would be different, they just hoped it would be for the better.

"You haven't said much since we left." Edward stated while he was getting the fire ready. They had set up camp near a small lake in the woods, after they left the temple they continued to follow the path like the map instructed. But it seemed to lead them further and further into the dark forest and there was no indication that they were going to get out any time soon.

"What can I say, I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I'm a witch." Bella replied dryly.

"You aren't a witch, witches are inherently evil and completely different then sorceresses. Just hope that we don't run into one of those on our way to the portal." Edward explained.

"So what's you favourite food?" Edward asked suddenly changing the subject. But still they hadn't had a lot of time to get to know each other and when they were alone- well let's just say that they didn't spend a lot of time talking.

"This might sound kind of strange but I love taco's. When I was little my parents often took me on road trips and every time we would stop by taco bell. Every time I smell taco's it reminds me of those memories." Bella answered wistfully

"What about you, I've noticed a lot of strange eating habits around here." she said teasingly.

Edward laughed and said: " Well you do need a pretty strong stomach around

some parts but, that isn't really a problem for me."

Bella laughed with him and started to feel a lot more comfortable around him, unwittingly they were moving closer and closer to each other. Bella then asked: " And what's your favourite colour?"

"Green, forest green." He replied and smiled again, " I like this, we haven't really had the chance to get to know each other, well at least not the traditional way." He finished playfully.

Bella's stomach started rumbling, blushing she wrapped her arms around her waist. But Edward just smiled and grabbed something that looked like an apple out of his bag.

"Here, these aren't taco's but I hope it'll do." he said while polishing the apple with his shirt.

He handed her the apple and took one for himself as well. He then laid down on the grass and stared up at the sky, it was a full moon tonight.

She laid down as well and turned on her side so that she could see him. Edward wrapped his arm around her and she let her head fall on his chest. The butterflies were back, and she could hear Edward's heart beating faster.

**AN: Thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you guys like this chapter, I really wanted to get this one up for you guys. If you have any questions or constructive criticism please leave a review. If anyone is interested in pre-reading my chapters, that would be so helpful. Not for spelling or anything just to see if the sentences make sense. **


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